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Wednesday, 8 January 2014

Doctor Who 50th Celebration 2013 - London Excel

On the 21st November (sorry about the delay), I set off on the train down to London with Luke for the Doctor Who 50th Celebration at the Excel Centre. We managed to book in at the Excel Travelodge which proved handy for an 8.30am start. As we were Ice Warriors group A, we were told to head early to West Gate, so instead of walking in the cold, we decided to opt for the DLR train. Once we alighted, we followed the official celebration posters and the many cosplayers to the main entrance, and joined the back of the enormous queue. This, I have to say, was the one and only thing that bugged me for the day, the endless queueing. If we had been prewarned I would have taken it better, but because of my dodgy back, I was in complete agony for a whole hour standing upright. I couldn't even sit on the floor because everyone was packed together like sardines. I was also worried that I would miss my photo with Matt Smith, which was due at 11am and we still hadn't gone into our first panel talk of the day. So all in all, I was very stressed for the first hour or so of the day. But once the doors finally opened, the crowd cheered and we made our way into the seating area for the first talk, the stress soon disappeared.

As we waited for the theatre to fill up, we were shown a montage of videos celebrating the 50 years of Doctor Who, which gave me goosebumps! It was brilliant to be seated in a room with so many people who shared the same love for the programme as you do. Our first talk of the day was the Special Effects show, which was very impressive. Danny Hargreaves who has worked on some of the biggest Doctor Who episodes along with his SFX team provided the most ambitious set which made me jump out of my seat. It incorporated an exploding Dalek, a huge wind machine, gun fire effects on a real-life Cyberman and a fire demonstration. The audience were then invited to ask the team any questions, during which me and Luke rudely had to leave as I wanted to make sure I wasn't late for my Matt Smith photo. Once again, panic set in, as I was wrongly directed into the Celebration Hall for my photo by a staff member, which took a lot of time and wading through excited fans to find my way out of! I was completely on autopilot, which meant I walked straight past Jenna Coleman without realising, who had just arrived to sign autographs, losing Luke on the way as he paused to catch a sighting of his love.

Next I was told by a woman to join the back of a queue up the stairs, where I was greeted by the gentleman infront of us as he turned around with a startled expression and said "Whoah I thought you were Jenna Coleman for a second then, I was going to say, you're supposed to be in a panel talk right now!" I didn't even go for the Clara cosplay but its a compliment all the same. In fact, I had just bought a new £30 dress for the occasion, paired with my wedged black trainers and leather jacket. After waiting in the queue for 10 minutes and finally reaching the front, a male staff member made it pretty clear that I was infact in the screening queue, and rushed me forward, directing me to the correct room. As if I needed more reason to be shaking like a nervous wreck than to be late for my photo?! Anyway, finally I was in the correct queue, and it was pretty obvious a lot of people had the same trouble as me getting there! My plan for the first part of the morning was to find exactly where the room was, but this was made impossible due to the queuing I explained earlier. My only advice for the Celebration team for any event they decided to organise in the future would be to include a show planner in an email to the attendees which could be printed off, because I had never been to the Excel Centre before so I didn't even know where the celebration hall was to begin! Or maybe a map on the website? There may have been one, but after spending a lot of time on the website to "Plan my Day" I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything of the sort. I have to say though, apart from that blip or two in the morning, the rest of the day ran smoothly, and it could have been down to our misfortune as Ice Warriors, being the first group to start the weekend events off, it allowed for teething problems to become apparent before the loose ends were well and truly tied up for Saturday and Sunday.Anyway, I ended up standing in the correct queue next to the door where people were exiting the room, which was great. This was because every time someone came out the door, I had a quick glimpse of the main man himself, and took a few snapshots. It was still a WHOAH moment when I saw the short hair in the flesh, even though I am use to seeing it in the press. He looked cute and comfortable in a woolly navy jumper, his trademark black slightly rolled up jeans and blue converse.

I gave the staff member my name and entered the room, following the queue as it zig-zagged around. The majority of people around me had turned up in groups or pairs so I felt pretty scared being on my lonesome as Luke hadn't paid for a photo. I proceeded by taking a few pictures as I waited my turn. I noticed people started getting Matt to sign items for them, so I panicked and picked out the Special Edition Doctor Who Magazine I had left in my bag from the train journey. But as I got near the front, the staff told everyone there would be no more autographs, which I knew anyway, it just annoys me how so many people get away with it, ruining it for the rest of us, and Matts too polite to say no to a signing.So I was next up, and as the people in front walked out of the room, Matt was distracted and started talking to someone behind the camera. I thought right, I am not walking over until he looks over. So I waited, he turned back, the staff waved me forward and on I went, shaking like a leaf. Matt shook my hand, asked if I was okay, I answered and returned the question and I asked if I could have a hug. He said of course I could and even though I was shaking like mad, it was the best hug, and he smelt so good. I was worried it was going to be an awkward hug, as I can be very awkward when nervous, but no, I threw my arms over him (not as violently as it sounds) and he responded into a quick cuddle. Then, out of nowhere, he stepped back for a second, looked me straight in the eyes and said 'you look really lovely by the way' .... well, I just melted. I bet my dimples were having a field-day. I squeaked a faint 'thanks' back, he put a big arm around me and we had our photo. Still shaking with nerves he said have a good day, rubbed my back and I totally fangirled with a "I'm gunna miss you" - Oh dear Kelly! I suppose it was the truth but out of the millions of things I could've said, I came out with that. Seriously. Ah well, nothing could bring me down, meeting Matt Smith for the third and possibly final time was brilliant, he was just the most handsome, perfect man of my dreams I always knew he was :-) And if he didn't know already, he now knows he's going to be missed, haha! Oh, and I totally prefer the short haired look, he looks even more gorgeous in the flesh.

Next, Luke managed to bring me down from cloud 9 *slightly*, and reminded me I was due to have my autograph with Catrin Stewart before 12pm, so we headed back into the celebration hall. When we arrived at the autograph booths I armed myself with my Stella series 2 DVD holder, showed my ticket to the staff and waited in the queue to meet the star of Sky Ones Stella and Doctor Who. Catrin Stewart portrays Jenny Flint in a number of episodes from Series 6 and 7 alongside her onscreen wife Silurian Madame Vastra and friend and ally the Sontaran, Strax. Most notably her recent appearance in the series 7 finale "The Name of the Doctor" brought the series to a close and left fans calling for the threesome to return in future episodes.

I waited for the gentleman in front of me in the queue to finish chatting to Catrin and she welcomed me next with a big grin. I asked her to sign my dvd cover, whilst she exclaimed 'this makes a change!' And we chatted away about Stella, my *second* favourite programme. I then asked if I could have a photo, and after vigorously searching my bag for my camera, apologizing for taking up her time, she called one of the staff over to take the snap, and we ended up with one of my favourite photos of the day. Catrin was a lovely lady, and I would love to meet her again. Such a warm and friendly personality, I really think she will go on to be a big star.

Next we had a bit of a wonder around the celebration hall and took in all the sights. The amount of cosplayers walking around was pretty impressive! We managed to catch sight of Camille Coduri, who plays Jackie Tyler, mother to Rose Tyler at her question and answer session, and then we moved on to look around the endless pop up shops, which were full of all kinds of Doctor Who goodies!

Following this, we made our way to the wardrobe and trailers. They were so cool, I've seen the trailers featured on so many Doctor Who Confidential episodes, so to be inside them was extra special. (As you well know, I love all that behind-the-scenes malarkey!) The wardrobe trailer was fitted out with costumes from many different characters, which was made extra special as we were actually allowed to touch and pose alongside our favourite items.

Following on from this, we headed back into the hall and had a nose around some of the props. We had seen quite a few before, following our past ventures to the Doctor Who Convention back in 2012, and the Doctor Who Experience. But nevertheless, I managed to take a few snaps of my favourite props and some I had not yet seen before, including items from The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood. It was all very exciting at this point as there were camera crews popping up all over the place interviewing fans and cosplayers.

After grabbing a sandwich for lunch, we decided to head back to the theatre for the next two panel shows. We waited in the queue for the auditorium, and when we were issued through the doors the huge crowd just ran forward, much to the staffs disappointment; a health and safety nightmare! Anyhow, it meant we managed to get hold of great aisle seats a few rows from the front, which we were very pleased with! After watching a few montages on the screen once again, we were introduced to our host, the voice of the Daleks Nicholas Briggs, and our three panel stars: Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy (aka the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors). This hour long panel was ten times better than I expected, I loved the friendships which have formed between the three actors, paired with their sense of humour and along with all the interesting stories they had to tell us fans from some of the most iconic scenes.

Once the panel had ended, we had a brief break and were advised to stay in our seats for the next panel show, the Eleventh hour. I made Luke stay sat with our seats whilst I wondered off to buy a programme. I was a bit put-off with the price, but I bought one anyway as I hadn't purchased anything all day. But £15!! Bit on the heavy side, but it is packed full with all kinds of cool facts, photos and information spanning 50 years.

The panel show began not long after, hosted by Matthew Sweet who introduced Producer Marcus Wilson, Writer Steven Moffat, Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith to the stage to humongous applause. Below is a short video I have uploaded to Youtube from the show, followed by some photos I took:-

Our last event for the day was our Tardis Console photo, which I was very excited about. The inside of the console was hidden from view by a long black curtain which took up a large chunk of the one corner in the celebration hall. We waited for 45 minutes for our photo, which was a bit of a pain as we had a specific timeslot we had booked to tie in with catching the train back home.

I was a bit disappointed with the picture to be honest, after all, I had pre-paid for it at a cost of £15! The lighting wasn't great and there wasn't much background to the set, which kind of made the whole shot look a bit fake. Plus, Lukes not even looking at the camera! (Silly boy!) But I suppose I won't get a chance like that again to touch the Eleventh Doctors first console, so I will stop moaning about it now and move on. Here's a lovely stereotypical snap of all the goodies I came home with:-

So, that's pretty much it for my day. I hope you've enjoyed my huge post and all my pictures. I went abit photo crazy as I had just treated myself to a posh new camera a few days before the event! This post has been about 5 weeks in the making, so you can understand why it is very long-winded. If you are like me, you'll only look at the pictures anyway, and maybe the last few paragraphs, if so, hi, you've missed a great post, shame on you ;-) ! All in all I had an incredible day, I would do it again, even with all the queuing. It was worth every penny, and I think the tickets themselves were a bargain for £45.00pp, plus the £20 I paid for a photo with the lovely Matt Smith. Plus, we got to see a bit more of London we hadn't seen before, as it was our first trip to the London Excel and our first journey on a DLR train - what an experience! I'd love to see a Doctor Who official event like this happen again, but I don't know whether the excitement of it being the 50th Celebration year will ever be trumped. Since I last blogged its been the Christmas special, and my Doctor, Matt Smith, left his role as the timelord *blubbs*. He will be sorely missed, but he will go onto even greater things (if possible - come on, its Doctor Who!) He is a fantastic actor, and a lovely, friendly young man. However, I am secretly looking forward to our new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, I can't wait to see how he puts his own spin to the role, hurry up Autumn! Lets see how many Capaldi locations I can visit this year. I have an idea in the works for my next blog post, so I'll hopefully get the ball rolling on that within the next week, now that I have settled in to my new job. I have also just purchased a beautiful new car as my ever-faithful Clio died, so I can't wait to go location hunting in that when the weather brightens up.I hope you are all keeping well, and the flooding and constant rain showers are not causing you too much misery. Hey, look on the bright side, its a fantastic excuse to stay indoors and pop on a Doctor Who boxset to drive your family crazy! Thank you for reading/skimming/scrolling, and I can't wait to blog to you again soon! Geronimo!★

Post dedicated to My Doctor, Matt Smith. (And my ever-faithful car, the Renault Clio, you have transported me safely to so many Doctor Who related locations, without you, they would have not been possible. May you rest in peace.)